To all things by the word of his power, when he had himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than day.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son,
this day have I begotten Thee.
And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
And again, when he bringeth into firstborn into the world, he saith,
and let all the angels of God worship him.
And of the angels, he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and
his ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God,
even Thy God hath appointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and
the heavens are the works of Thine hands.
They shall perish, but Thou remainest.
They all shall wax solace of the garment, and
as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, for
Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.
But to which of the angels saith he at any time,
sit on my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for
them who shall be the heirs of salvation?
Let's pray.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the book of Hebrews.
Dear God, we thank you for every precious word in the Bible.
We thank you for our pastor.
Please bless him as he beaches your word onto us tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, all right, we're starting a brand new book tonight, the book of Hebrews.
And Brother Ulysses and I were just kind of joking in the back there talking about
this because he was saying that this is actually a series that's a long time coming.
I intended to actually preach through the book of Hebrews when I was a teacher in
Bible college for a summer intensive in 2017.
And I remember thinking to myself, I was really excited about him,
and cuz I had studied him and I was gonna put a book together for everyone.
But then that's when they asked me to leave.
And so that's when all that happened.
And then they were just like, you can't teach in the Bible college.
So I was kind of sad about that because I didn't get to teach through
the book of Hebrews.
However, I'm kind of thankful that I didn't because of the fact that I've
learned so much more about the book of Hebrews years later.
And I feel like I have a greater understanding and
more depth of the knowledge of this particular book and what it means.
And so it's a good thing.
And it's also a good thing because then I wasn't responsible for
charging people to learn the Bible, amen.
And so those classes were expensive.
But we're gonna get into the book of Hebrews tonight, chapter one.
Let me give you a couple of introductory points here.
Before we get into the actual chapter itself,
let's talk about who the writer of the book of Hebrews is.
And most people, this is a point of, it can be a point of contention or
people speculate that it's a variety of different writers.
Some say it's Barnabas, others say it's Apollos.
But honestly, in my opinion, I think it's pretty obvious that it's the Apostle Paul.
And here are a couple reasons why.
When you look at the writing style of the book of Hebrews,
it's obviously written in such a way that it's likened unto the writings of
the Apostle Paul, with the exception that there's no salutation in the beginning.
And I think the reason why there's not a salutation in the beginning given by
the Apostle Paul is because it's an epistle to the Hebrews,
not necessarily to a church, not necessarily to a specific person, but
rather a group of individuals known as the Hebrews.
And not only that, but the end of the letter is written in Paul's style.
So when you go to the chapter 13, look at the very last verse,
you can compare that to the way the Apostle Paul finished off a lot of his
epistles, and they're essentially exactly the same.
Not only that, but when you read the book of Hebrews,
you see that a lot of the doctrines that are being covered in this particular book
are doctrines that the Apostle Paul covered extensively in the book of Romans
and other of his writings.
They have that same style and
he has a tendency to focus on particular doctrines and teachings.
And then one of the last reasons people speculate that it is the Apostle Paul
who's responsible for writing this book is that he talks about Timothy.
Well, no other apostle did that.
You don't have Peter talking about Timothy or John talking about Timothy.
Obviously, Timothy is someone who's in close proximity to the Apostle Paul.
It's his son in the faith, which would explain why he's addressing him.
He's talking about him later on in the letter.
Now, at the end of the day, who cares who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews,
because of the fact that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And ultimately, it's God who's the author of this particular book.
And a lot of times people will make a big deal about who is it that wrote
this particular book or that particular book.
And they argue about those things and they debate about that.
But it's because of the fact that they place such an emphasis on the human author,
not necessarily the divine author.
They're like, well, it has to be written by this particular person,
cuz if it's not, it's not authoritative.
Wrong, we could look at the content of the letter and see that it comes from God.
We could look at the content and recognize immediately that God is the one
who inspired the hand that is writing this letter.
So at the end of the day, we give credit to the Apostle Paul because of the fact
that he's probably the human instrument used to pen down these words.
But at the end of the day, we know that God is ultimately the author of this book.
And here's the thing, folks, is that you can compare all of the books of the Bible,
all 66 books, and they all coincide.
They all fit with one another, they don't contradict one another,
which is why they removed those other stupid books,
known as the apocryphal readings out of the Bible,
because of the fact that they don't belong there.
They contradict, they teach all kinds of weird stuff in there.
And people are always bringing this up about the King James Bible.
What about those books that they removed?
Well, they removed them cuz they're trash.
And it's funny that people always bring up those books, but
the same people who bring them up never read them.
They never take time to actually read the Book of Enoch or
the Epistle of Barnabas or Maccabees or whatever it may be.
They don't take time to actually study them, because if they actually did and
compared it with the other portions of scripture,
they would see that they're completely erroneous.
They are falsified documents.
They don't match up with the Bible.
They're not authored by God.
So therefore, they should be removed, okay?
And here's the thing, folks, is that we can readily see them today in 2024.
But even in the first century AD, when these epistles are circulating
throughout the churches, people in those churches had enough sense to recognize
this belongs in the Bible and this doesn't, okay?
This is from God, and this is not from God.
This contradicts these particular teachings, and so it's not from the Lord.
They had the spirit of truth dwelling within them.
They can prove all things and hold fast that which is good.
They can prove every spirit.
So when the letter came to them claiming to be from the Apostle Paul or
from Judas Iscariot or whatever it may have been, it doesn't matter what letter
it was, they can essentially compare spiritual things with spiritual and
readily recognize that they're erroneous letters.
And so with that being said, the book of Hebrew is potentially written by
the Apostle Paul because of the evidence just presented.
But at the end of the day, we know that it's God's word.
And it's a letter that was meant to be read in churches, okay?
And I'm gonna explain to you why in just a bit.
Now, who is it for?
Where you're like, well, obvious, it's for the Hebrews, right?
It's for Jews.
Well, it's not necessarily for Jews, it's for Hebrews, okay?
Because notice it's not called the Book of Jews.
Which a lot of people will try to represent it in that way, but
it's the Book of Hebrews for a reason.
And obviously, there's nothing in the actual text itself
that calls itself the Book of Hebrews, okay?
The people who were in churches during this time, they labeled it that because
it's obviously being addressed to this group of people.
Now, here's what's unique about this book is that, again,
like I mentioned, most of the Apostle Paul's writings, or
even you think of the Apostle Peter, those letters and
those epistles are being addressed to specific churches.
The church at Corinth, the church of the Ephesians, and Philippi, and
the Colossians, or you have them addressed to particular individuals,
Philemon, Timothy, Titus, right?
You have these particular writings, but
Hebrews is written to a particular group of people.
Now, when you read the Book of Hebrews, you come to the conclusion that it might
just be talking to both saved and unsaved Hebrews, okay?
Now, how do we know that?
Well, because of the fact that throughout the Book of Hebrews,
you'll often find this term brethren being mentioned in context of salvation.
Well, you don't call an unsaved person a brother, okay?
In the Bible, I'm saying.
When you see that term brother being used,
it's often referring to a person who is a brother in Christ.
Because once you get saved, the other Christians that are around you,
all Christians, are essentially our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And so you see that term being mentioned, but
you also see some passages in the Book of Hebrews that seems to indicate that he's
talking to potentially unsaved Hebrews, okay?
And you have to take into consideration that this is being written
during a time where even though it's already taking place in the New Testament,
first century, a lot of the Old Testament practices, unfortunately,
are still being practiced out of ignorance because it's just always what they've done.
Which is why later on in the Book of Hebrews,
it talks about that old covenant that's ready to what?
Vanish away.
Because little by little, the Hebrews who are saved
are putting away those ordinances of the Old Testament.
They're putting away those practices and rituals because they're getting smarts and
they're learning from preachers and churches that those things are a shadow
of things to come, that they're not supposed to be practicing those things.
Which is why he says that they're ready to vanish away.
Cuz ultimately, at the end of the day, after the first century AD,
you pretty much have churches not practicing those things at all.
Hebrews who are saved are not practicing that at all.
He said, why is it called Hebrews and not Jews?
Well, Jews are from Judah, first and foremost.
But secondly, Jew, the term Jew,
is often something that's associated with the false religion of Judaism.
And so once you become a Christian, you don't become a Masianic Jew.
What kind of term is that?
A savior Jew, a Masianic Jew.
That term is not found in the Bible, okay?
You say, well, what do you call them then?
Call them Christians, call them believers, okay?
Cuz they fall into the same category as all the Gentiles who are believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and there's no respecter of persons with the Lord.
And the Bible tells us that in Christ Jesus, listen to this,
there is neither Jew nor Gentile, for all are one in Christ Jesus.
So God doesn't care about what ethnic background you have or
what religion you came from.
Once you convert to Christianity, you cease being whatever you were before, okay?
That's why I have an issue with people who claim that they're saved, but
they're still Catholic.
Well, if you're Catholic and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you're no longer Catholic, stop saying that.
Cuz Catholicism is associated with a false religion, it's a cult.
It's taking people to hell.
So I don't want to be labeled as a Catholic.
If I was a part of the Catholic Church, I would cease calling myself a Catholic, and
now I'm only a Christian.
Which is one of the reasons why the Catholic Church, and
a lot of Catholics are calling themselves Christian now.
Which is a complete oxymoron, because everything that the Catholic
Church teaches is completely against the Bible.
But I won't belabor the point there, I digress.
What I'm saying here is that he's addressing this to the Hebrews,
not to Jews.
He's addressing it to the Hebrews.
And you see throughout the book that he spends a lot of time
addressing things that would be akin to Hebrew practices, okay?
The book is very much focused on the priesthood, and the animal sacrifices,
and the meats, drinks, divers, washings, and cardinal ordinances.
So obviously, he's talking to the Hebrews for that reason.
So it's for them.
Now I believe it's for them who are found within these churches in the first
century AD, cuz they're scattered, they're in different churches.
And so as this is being preached in a local New Testament church in the first
century AD, you have Hebrews in the congregation who need to hear this.
But luckily, it's applicable to everyone, right?
Because we've read the book of Hebrews, and it's definitely applicable to us.
There's a lot of things that are applicable to our lives,
even as Gentile believers, okay?
But also, this could be applicable to unsaved Hebrews,
because of the fact that unto them were committed to the oracles of God.
They have some knowledge because of the fact that they were in close proximity
to the knowledge of the word of God of the Old Testament.
So therefore, it needs to be read to them as well, they need to hear this.
And they need to learn what the Bible says about Jesus Christ.
And so that's who it's for.
It's for the Hebrews, written in churches or abroad, whether saved or unsaved.
Now some would speculate that this is an epistle that was actually penned down,
possibly by Luke, and it's actually a sermon that the Apostle Paul preached and
penned down by Luke.
And you can kind of see that because he doesn't say salutations,
my dearly beloved.
He's just like God who has sun-dried times and in diverse manners, and
he kind of just starts off with a sermon.
And it can definitely be preached in that manner.
In either case, a lot of great doctrine is in this book.
Now what is the purpose of the book?
So we talked about the writer, we talked about who it is directed towards.
What is the purpose of this book?
Well, here's some of the purposes.
Number one, to essentially expose the inadequacies of the Old Testament
ordinances, okay, in comparison to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Because it goes into great detail regarding the Old Testament ordinances,
but it points out how inadequate those Old Testament sacrifices were
to wash away the sins of people, particularly the priests.
And it compares it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
So it doesn't necessarily talk down on the Old Testament.
It just essentially tells you that the New Testament is better for
this particular reason, okay?
Not only that, but it's meant to prove conclusively
the superiority of Jesus Christ and the New Testament.
Which, if you are in unsaved Hebrew, is gonna rub you the wrong way.
Because in general, the Jews, the Hebrews, they rejected Jesus Christ.
He came into his own, his own received him not.
So the Apostle Paul makes no quarrels about emphasizing
how superior Jesus Christ is to the Old Testament high priest,
to Moses, to the angels, to the prophets, to everything.
And in fact, the new covenant that he's bringing in, that he brought in,
is superior to their beloved old covenant, okay?
So that's what it's meant for, to expose those inadequacies of the Old Testament
ordinances, the fact that it falls short, and
also to prove conclusively that Jesus Christ is superior.
And also to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the high priest of Christianity, okay?
And so this is something that's important, especially to Hebrews,
because of the fact that they esteem the high priest.
That is definitely a position of spiritual authority
that they had in their history for thousands of years.
But now Jesus Christ is coming in and saying, well,
I'm the high priest above everybody, okay?
It ends with me.
And to kind of flex on them even more,
the high priest was supposed to come from the house of Aaron.
And he's like, well, I'm from the tribe of Judah, okay?
I'm not from the tribe of Levi, I am from Judah,
which is basically Jesus Christ going around the Old Testament ordinances
of choosing the high priest, and saying, you know what, I'm from the tribe of Judah,
but I'm still a high priest above those from Aaron, and
above those from the tribe of Levi as well.
And then lastly is, what is the purpose of the book?
To promote the power of faith and the importance of works.
And we'll get into that later on, towards the end of the book of Hebrews.
But one thing you'll notice about this book,
it's very deep as far as doctrine is concerned.
A lot of systematic teaching on here on doctrine, and so let's get right into it.
So let's talk about the superiority of Jesus Christ over the angels and prophets.
And I'm gonna teach you something tonight regarding this particular chapter and
chapter two that you might have not heard before.
And it's something that, as I was studying this,
I came to the conclusion of, okay, so who is he better than?
Obviously, we know he's superior, but
who is being talked about in this particular chapter when he talks about
angels, okay, and I'm gonna get into it in just a bit.
Now look at verse number one, it says, God who has sundry times and
in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
So the first thing we see here is that he is superior in his revelation.
Why? Well, because of the fact that right off the bat,
he talks about that God spoke to the fathers through the prophets.
So throughout the Old Testament, throughout the history of Israel,
you have all of these prophets that are coming out and preaching the word of God.
They're giving the revelation of the Lord.
And these are a group of people,
the prophets who are highly esteemed in the eyes of Israel, right?
So people are seen as being authoritative, they're highly esteemed, and
they're quoted quite a bit.
And it's because of the fact that they preach with power,
they preach with authority, they're bringing the word of God into the people.
And they've done it in diverse manners, right?
They've done it in different ways.
However, the Bible says that in these last times,
God has spoken to us by his son.
Not to say that what the son is saying is contradicting the prophets,
it's just telling us that what the son is saying is superior to what anybody says.
Now, how do we know that?
Well, he says, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds.
So the prophets would come in the Old Testament and preach against kingdoms,
and kings, and nations, and tear them down, and build them up,
and move people to repentance, and just preach incredible sermons.
Well, when Jesus Christ speaks, he creates worlds.
So what he's preaching is far more superior, because when he preaches,
he says, Lazarus come forth, and Lazarus comes forth, gives life.
So why is he superior to the prophets who spake in times past?
Because of the fact that he's able to create worlds.
He is the word of God that has power, that's why he is superior.
Now, why would the Apostle Paul begin this particular chapter
talking about why Jesus Christ is superior to the prophets?
Well, because of the fact that the Israelites esteem prophets.
And in fact, throughout the New Testament, you always hear about the law and
the prophets, right?
They're always talking about the law and the prophets.
And in fact, when Jesus Christ came,
the first time, people were mistaking him for what?
For prophets, they're saying, some say it's Elias,
some say it's John the Baptist, or one of the prophets, that's what it was to say.
Why, because the Israelites were obviously esteeming the prophets of the Old Testament
as being authoritative, important, and people, as we're gonna look at, of reputation.
Now, let me continue on here.
He says in verse three, referring to Jesus, he says,
who be in the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
So one thing that he's addressing here is the fact that Jesus Christ is obviously
superior because he is the express image of God the Father.
It doesn't mean he's God the Father.
It means he's the express image of God the Father, meaning that the word of God
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, for the grace and truth.
He shares that same glory with his Father, which is God the Father.
It's basically what he told Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
Not because he's saying that he is the Father, but
he is the express image of his Father.
A couple months ago, I was showing people pictures of myself
when I was my son's age, and a lot of people were like, that's Bruce, right?
Or I posted a picture one time on Facebook, and it was a picture of me and
my sister, and someone commented and said, that's Esaias, okay?
Now, what do they mean by that?
Do they mean like, that's literally him, that's literally Bruce?
No, it means that's like the express image of you, right?
Why, because if you've seen Bruce, you've seen me.
And once Bruce grows up in his 20s and 30s, people are gonna look at him and
say, man, you look just like your dad, you're just like your father.
We obviously know those are two distinct different people, but
he carries the express image of his father, okay?
So that's what it's referring to when it says the express image of his persons.
He is the greatest expression of the Godhead in physical form
when the word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Now, let's talk about the fact that he's superior
because he has a more excellent reputation.
Because he starts off by saying that God's speaking to us in times past by
the prophets.
And then he talks about the fact that now God is speaking to us by his son,
by whom he created the worlds, he is the express image of his persons.
He's upholding all things by the word of his power.
When he had himself purged our sins, sat down in the right hand of the majesty on
the high, look at verse four, being made so much better than the angels,
as he had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Now, let me explain something here before I get into what I believe this is
referring to.
Throughout the years as I read the book of Hebrews,
I pretty much concluded that when it talks about angels here,
it's just referring to angels.
As we would think of angels as being celestial beings, right?
And in fact, I still believe that.
However, I do believe that this is kind of a dual interpretation,
that it's referring to angels and prophets.
Now, how do I come to that conclusion?
Well, in the New Testament,
you see various times where prophets are described as being angels.
And in fact, in Revelation 22, when the angel's coming to John in a vision,
he says that he's one of his fellow servants and of the prophets.
Now, why is that?
Well, because of the fact that angel is synonymous with being a messenger, okay?
And so you think of an evangelist that's an angel
who's bringing the message of the gospel to an unsaved person.
So it's not uncommon to find that the term angel is often
used synonymously with a prophet because they're both proclaiming the word of God.
Okay, so let me get that out there first.
Secondly, when you read this chapter, I was thinking to myself,
is this talking about prophets when it says angels,
or is it talking about these celestial spirits
we would commonly refer to as angels?
Which one is it talking about?
And I've concluded that it's probably just talking about both, okay?
And I'm gonna show you some of the verses here when it talks about angels,
how it could potentially be talking about both.
Now, whether you wanna believe that it's only referring to celestial beings, or
it's only referring to prophets, or it's referring to both,
it actually doesn't change the price in tea in China at all.
Because at the end of the day,
the point that God is making is that Jesus is just better than both of them.
So you can believe whoever it is, Jesus is just superior to all of them.
Is it superior to the prophets?
He's way better than the prophets, and he's better than the angels, okay?
And so we'll go through some of these verses to show that.
As I mentioned, the mentions of angels.
And in fact, the mentions of angels in these first two chapters
seems to indicate that it could be referring to celestial spirits, or
it's referring to actual human prophets that were used to proclaim the word of God.
Now, the reason I also believe that it's possibly referring to both, and
this poetic language is used to kind of give that dual interpretation,
is because the first two chapters are dedicated to talking about
how he's superior to those angels.
But then in chapter three, who is he superior to as well?
Moses.
Now, if we were to interpret the angels as potentially being prophets,
then what we're talking about here is Jesus Christ being better is superior
to Moses and the prophets, you understand what I'm saying?
Because you kind of wonder, why isn't Elijah picked or something?
Why does the Apostle Paul have to fixate on Moses in chapter three,
and just talk about angels from chapters one and chapter two?
Well, remember, he's writing to the Hebrews, who esteem Moses and the prophets.
So it's important for the Apostle Paul to flex on the Hebrews a little bit.
And we understand that until you were committed to the oracles of God,
but I'm just telling you right now that Jesus Christ is better than Moses and the prophets.
And if you want to interpret it as just being the angels, celestial beings,
well, he's better than them too.
Now, here's the thing, though, is that the Hebrews essentially
esteemed the prophets as being important, being of reputation,
but they also esteemed angels as being, I'm talking about the celestial bodies,
as being important as well, which is why in Colossians chapter two,
the Apostle Paul addresses to the Colossians of people who have this
voluntary will worship and talk about the worshiping of angels,
because there are people in those days who were esteeming
angels to the point of idolatry, that they're worshiping angels.
So you can see how both can essentially fit that description and that interpretation.
Now, I want you to notice that it says that he's made so much better than the angels.
This isn't referring to what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe,
that Jesus Christ was like a created being, because the previous verses,
and we'll see the other verses that come after this,
the context is referring to the fact that he's sitting on the right hand of the Father.
So the being made there is obviously describing his position that he has,
that he's better than the angels and the fact that he has a better position than them.
Okay, now look what it says, being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Now that's interesting, isn't it?
Why does it say that? Well, when it says a more excellent name,
if you remember on Sunday night when I preached,
we're talking about the fact that when the Bible talks about thou hast the name that thou livest,
isn't referring to the actual name, but rather what? The reputation.
And the prophets had an excellent reputation in the eyes of the Israelites,
and so did the angels, okay, the celestial beings.
I talked about Moses and the prophets, but let me give you a couple verses here.
John chapter 8, you can write these down if you'd like, John chapter 8 verse 51 says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast the devil,
Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying,
he shall never taste of death, art thou greater than our father Abraham,
which is dead, and the prophets are dead, who makest thou thyself?
What are they saying? Are you better than the prophets? And the answer is, yeah, he is.
Next question. Because before Abraham was, I am, the Bible says.
Now, this is coming from the religious leaders of that day,
and they're bringing that to Jesus saying, are you better than Abraham?
You think you're better than the prophets? Well, read Hebrews chapter 1.
Obviously, they didn't have Hebrews 1. Yeah, he's better than them.
He's obtained a more excellent name than them. And in fact, some of them were just nameless.
But they had a reputation of being the men of God and being sent from God.
But I'm just showing you that the attitude of the Jews of that day was obviously that how can
you say you're better than the prophets? How can you say you're better than Abraham? Well,
it's because he is. Let me read to you from Matthew chapter 16 in verse 13. Can you lower
it down some more? It's getting warm. Verse 13 says, When Jesus came into the coast of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say he that I am? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. So even not just the religious leaders
of the day, but even the common man who had just common knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures
were mistaking him for Elias, which is Elijah, Jeremiah, which is Jeremiah, or just one of the
prophets, basically saying that this man is doing so many great works, he's preaching such great
sermons, he must be one of the prophets, kind of showing us how much they esteem the prophets as
being important. Matthew 23 verse 29. When the Pharisees are being rebuked by Jesus Christ,
Jesus says this, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because he build the
tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the
days of our fathers, we would have not been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets,
wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them, which kill the
prophets. What is he saying? You esteem the prophets to the point where you garnish their
sepulchres, and you build the tombs of the prophets, but obviously, you are of your father,
the devil, that's what he's telling them. They're that generation of vipers. But the point that I'm
making here is the fact that they have this outward expression and disposition of upholding
the prophets as being important individuals in their history. Now go to Philippians chapter 2,
if you would, hold your place there in Hebrews. So we see there that if this is referring to
prophets, which I believe it could be, you can see how they would have obtained an excellent name.
They're preaching God's word, they're very famous in Israel. Even when Jesus Christ is crucified,
the Pharisees are like, oh, he calleth for Elias, you know, and they're quoting them,
they talk about them, they have a reputation in Israel, they have a name that equals importance
and esteem. But look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, it says, Let this mind be in you,
which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Verse 9, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow
of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What is it saying? It's saying
what Hebrews 1 is saying, that he's obtained a more excellent name than they. You understand?
And so when he starts off by talking about the prophets in verse number 1, they were used greatly
in diverse manners. They obtained an excellent name, but hold on Hebrews, just want to let you
know that Jesus is even better than that though. And no sermon in the Old Testament can hold a
candle to every sermon that Jesus has ever preached. Because Jesus is the greatest of all
preachers, he's the greatest of all prophets, and in fact beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So I want to let you
know that Jesus, he's the source of all their sermons. He's the content of their sermons,
which makes them better because they're preaching about Jesus.
So everything that Moses said, everything that the prophets were talking about,
it all led to Jesus Christ. You understand? And this is in no way, shape, or form minimizing the
importance of the prophets because they are important. They were the men of God,
and you know Jesus Christ talked about the prophets. He quoted the prophets.
This is just kind of flexing on the Hebrews to let them know I'm better than them though.
Okay and so if this is referring to, when it says angels, if it's referring to those messengers of
the Old Testament, it could fit. But it can also fit the celestial bodies as well because there's
plenty of celestial beings in the Old Testament, even going into the New Testament, of angels that
are specifically named who proclaimed the word of God unto man and people knew about. Okay
and so Israel obviously had a significant amount of knowledge of the angels. They knew
angiology based upon Old Testament scriptures and so they were definitely held in reputation
in the sense of, you know, they knew that there were messengers from God. They were used to
proclaim prophecies unto them. They knew about Michael. You know in the New Testament you have
Gabriel being mentioned, things of that nature. They know about the princes and the principalities
and they obviously esteem them as being important and this would also fit that description as well
because if you think of Israel thinking about those celestial bodies as being important,
we like they knew that those angels were powerful, right? They had a lot of supernatural power.
They had supernatural capabilities, okay? You think of the visions that Ezekiel saw,
that Daniel saw. This is common knowledge amongst Israel regarding the nature of those
celestial bodies. They understood how powerful they were and how they were used of God and what
he's saying here is that Jesus Christ is better than that though because as powerful as the angels
were that struck people and struck entire nations and armies dead and did great exploits in the Old
Testament, well Jesus just created the whole world though. So beat that, okay? And I think what he's
trying to get across here is that they're worshiping the creature more than the Creator.
You understand what I'm saying? It's like the creature's being more focused on than the Creator
himself and hey, you know, angels are cool. I mean one of my favorite angels, I'll be honest with you,
is Abaddon, okay? You know, Paulion is pretty awesome, okay? The Destroyer.
He's one of my favorites because when God created him he's like, ye shall be the Destroyer.
You know what I mean? He just makes them and he's just like has no other
responsibility other than destruction. Pulls them out just to kill a bunch of people.
You know, that's a powerful angel and it's potentially the same angel that binds Satan
in Revelation chapter 20. I mean he's the one who's leading the armies and the army of locusts
in Revelation chapter, what is it, 9? I mean he's of great reputation but you know what? He can't
hold the candle to Jesus Christ though. He said, well how do you know? Because Jesus made him.
He came from the mind of Christ. You know, he created all his faculties and who, you know,
what he's capable of and his power. He gave him his power. He created all principalities and
powers the Bible says, okay? And so you can see how that would match up with that, right? The
potential dual interpretation that it's either referring to the prophets or it's referring to
these angelic beings that we commonly refer to as angels. In either case, he's still better
than both and that's what he's trying to get across here. Now look at verse number, go back
to Hebrews chapter 1 and go to verse number 5. One thing that I want to mention here is that
when you read the book of Hebrews, and this happens in other portions of scripture,
you won't find quotation marks, okay? When Old Testament scriptures are being quoted.
You'll never find quotation marks. What the Bible does instead of that is it'll capitalize
a particular letter to let you know that something is being quoted. So when you read the book of
Hebrews and you recognize a particular verse that's from the Old Testament, just look at
the beginning of when it's quoted and you'll see that it's a capital letter. That's an indication
that the Old Testament is being quoted. That's just a little food for thought there, okay?
Now look at verse number 5, it says,
So he's superior in his revelation. He's superior because of the fact that he's better
than the angels. He's obtained a more excellent name than they, more excellent reputation,
but also he's superior because he's the only begotten son. Now this verse could be describing
both celestial body and prophet. You say how so? Well because of the fact that angels are
not the sons of God. And there's this false doctrine that's constantly being perpetuated
by dispensationalists where they want to claim that the celestial beings that the Bible talks
about as angels are referred to as the sons of God. And there is absolutely, there's no proof
of that in the Bible. And when you ask them for evidence, they'll often point to Job chapter 1.
Okay, Job chapter 1, Job chapter 2. But when you go to Job chapter 1, Job chapter 2, it just talks
about the sons of God. And it doesn't call them angels, just calls them the sons of God. And they
think to themselves, well because Satan also came also among them and it mentions the sons of God
presenting themselves before the Lord, therefore we deduce that they're angels. No, wrong.
The sons of God are being presented before the Lord because that's exactly what people do when
they're in heaven. They present themselves before the Lord. And you know what, Satan still has
access to certain aspects of heaven because he's the accuser of the brethren. Okay, and I know that
doesn't fit this worldly theology or whatever that Satan has been cast out of heaven. No, he's still
there. He actually makes his runs back and forth because let me just let you in on a little secret.
He still needs to ask for permission. He has to put a P.O. in and ask for permission for certain
things. He can't just like act on his own. God has to give him permission. He has him on a short leash.
Therefore he still has access to heaven. So you know he hasn't said to any angel, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee because of the fact that in order to be qualified to be a son of God
you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the celestial bodies that exist at this time are
in no need of redemption. They can't get saved. Okay, and the way you become a son of God is by
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say okay then how does this, how can this be referring to
the prophets then because prophets are sons of God if they're saved. Well in that case you know
what they're not the only begotten son of God. There's only one of those and that's Jesus Christ.
And so this could be referring to both but it's stating here that he is superior to the angels,
those celestial bodies because of the fact that he is the only begotten son of God
and also because of the fact he's flexing on the prophets because he's the only begotten son of God.
Essentially he's the only one who holds that title, that label,
and food for thought he's quoting Psalm 2 verse 7 there. Look at verse 6,
and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith and let all the angels of
God worship him. Which by the way is that you won't find a quotation of that in the Old Testament.
This is potentially referring to a quote from Job when talking about the birth of Jesus Christ and
the chapters fleeing me right now but in that particular chapter it has both sons of God and
the morning stars rejoicing together. So you can see how that would fit the bill referring to both.
Pretty interesting right? Verse 7 says, and of the angels he saith who maketh his angel spirits
and his ministers a flame of fire. Once again quoting Psalm 104 verse 4 could be referring
also to prophets and or celestial beings because of the fact that prophets are spirits
right? Just as it says in 2nd Peter that Jesus Christ preached unto the spirits which are in
prison referring to actual people and also the prophets are ministers a flame of fire.
They're people who are sent to go preach the word of God and the preaching of God's word is often
likened unto a fire okay? But why else is he superior? Well he's superior because his power
and his authority are eternal. He says in verse 8, but unto the son he saith thy throne oh God
is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom that was love
righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows quoting Psalm 45 verse 6 says in verse 10 and thou Lord in the beginning
has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands they shall
perish but thou remainest they shall all wax old at doth the garment and as a vesture that shall
fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail quoting
Psalm 102 and verse 26. Now look at verse 13 but to which of the angels again coming up with this
particular concept said he at any time sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation
now that last verse in verse 14 you can see how it could apply to both
why well for one let's take let's talk about the celestial being okay because you know this is
something we commonly refer to as the guardian angel right which I believe to be uh true and
can be backed up not just from Hebrews but even from the gospels okay but let's look at an example
go to Acts chapter 10 if you would Acts chapter 10 because angels referring to that celestial
body they are ministering spirits we see angels ministering unto the Lord after his temptations
in the wilderness of Satan he's in the wilderness with the beast after he conquers the temptations
of Satan what happens thereafter the angels come and they minister unto Jesus Christ but it also
says here verse 14 that they're ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation implying that angels these celestial beings play a role in helping
getting people saved they can't preach the gospel but they do play a certain specific role in
getting people saved here's an example look at Acts 10 and verse 1 there was a certain man in
Caesarea called Cornelius a centurion of the band called the Italian band a devout man and one that
feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always
so this is a person who's not saved he said well he gave all these descriptions this is a God
fearing person a person who's essentially responding to the light that God gave him
and he's essentially trying to obtain favor with the Lord via his works
okay he thinks he's doing right he fears the Lord he prays but he's not saved he saw in a vision
evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him
Cornelius and when he looked on him he was afraid and said what is it Lord and he said unto him thy
prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God and we're not going to read the whole
passage there but what ends up happening is he sends him to Peter who ends up getting him saved
so we could look at this particular angel mentioned in Acts chapter 10 and say yeah he
was a ministering spirit sent forth to minister unto them Cornelius who was to be an heir of
salvation leading him to the person who was going to give him the gospel okay and I would conjecture
that all of us had that those of us who are saved we had some sort of guardian angel who assisted us
throughout our life to kind of help situate us in a way where we can hear the gospel and get saved
now the sad thing is is some people become reprobates and that angel no longer is
designated for that person it's a sad thing but I believe that you know according to these passages
that this is a potential case now if this is referring to the prophets well that makes perfect
sense as well because what do we do we go out there and minister to people who shall be heirs
of salvation when we go and knock on doors and preach the gospel we're ministering unto him the
gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can be saved okay now what is the point of chapter one the
point is to show conclusively that Jesus Christ regardless of who you think the angels are
referring to he's better than both okay he is right off the bat presenting conclusively that
he's superior now before we finish here look at chapter two just to kind of uh piggyback off of
what we were talking about earlier it says in chapter two therefore we ought to give because
when it says therefore it's obviously addressing the previous verses right ministers of salvation
therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time
we should let them slip for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and
disobedience receive a just recompense of a reward so do we have examples of celestial beings
giving a particular word and when it was disobeyed they receive a just recompense of their reward for
their reward yes how about genesis 19 right you had angels going there warning them don't look back
I mean remember Lot's wife she received the just recompense because she didn't listen to the angel
but this could also be applied to prophets because we're constantly warning people
and every transgression and disobedience receives a recompense of reward when they disobey the word
of God people obviously pay the price for that look at verse 3 how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us
by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with
diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will so obviously verse
four is referring to prophets and apostles who were enabled supernaturally by God to carry out
these miracles and supernatural occurrences in order to confirm the word of God that was being
preached but it can also be applied to the celestial bodies as well because they were also
used to perform such miracles as well okay just to kind of show you there that it's potentially
referring to both now why is the apostle Paul spending so much time talking about it
well because again culturally in uh Israel both of these were very highly esteemed
and in fact when Jesus shows up they're constantly they're constantly comparing him
with the prophets were they not oh Moses said this though and he's just like Moses wrote of me
you would have believed Moses you would have believed me and he's like well the law says
this he's like you know he wrote the law the law of God came from the Lord it's called the
law of the Lord and he came not to destroy the law nor the prophets he came to fulfill them
understand so they're constantly comparing him to the prophets constantly comparing him to Moses
and the book of Hebrews is just that last straw where Paul is coming and saying look Hebrews
you stubborn Hebrews Jesus is better than both you can like them all you want but you better
come to the conclusion that every believer comes to which is that Jesus is better
and he's ordained for these things to be as such if it wasn't for him you wouldn't even be around
and this is essentially what the entire book of Hebrews is doing it's showing the superiority
of Jesus Christ and we're only scratching the surface because then he's going to hit on Moses
and then he's going to hit on Aaron and the Levitical priesthood and then he's going to
talk about their beloved sacrifices all their ordinances I mean he's and then he it just
culminates to their old covenant I mean he's leaving no stone unturned he's hitting all
the things that the Hebrews just hold to and esteem as being so important to them and Paul's
coming saying Jesus is like collectively better than all of that stuff and in fact he did it
better who wore it better he did he did it better I mean I don't know about you but I'm thankful
that I'm a New Testament Christian why because it's a better testament established upon better
promises with a better mediator Moses is cool though don't get me wrong he was cool Moses is
awesome I love reading about Moses I just don't know if I would have been thrilled being there
with him having to remember all the ordinances we have to keep it's almost like a full-time job just
to keep all the laws of God in the Old Testament it's like where are you going now I'm doing a
sacrifice what are you doing now I'm going back to doing the sacrifice like sacrifice after
sacrifice so you can see why we're definitely in a better testament plain and simple let's pray
Father we thank you thank you so much for the New Testament the new covenant and of course we're
grateful for the old and all that it symbolized all that it foreshadowed and ultimately culminating
to the Lord Jesus Christ who is superior and better than everything else and I pray that Lord
that as we study this book that it would give us a greater appreciation for our God our Savior our
Lord and help us to recognize that no matter what he is superior and I think of when the apostle
Peter saw the mountain of transfiguration he saw Elijah and Moses Elijah representing the prophets
Moses representing the law but once that vision vanished away Lord you said this is my beloved
son hear ye him just kind of proving conclusively that he's better even more better than the
prophets and better than Moses better than the law and I pray that you bless us Lord as we go
on our way we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus' name amen all right we have one
last song song number 10 near the cross
song number 10 near the cross
all together nice and strong Jesus keep me near the cross they're a precious
fountain free to all a healing stream flows from calvary's mountain in the cross in the cross be
my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river